Betting on World Cup 2022 futures

World Cup futures allow you to bet on outcomes beyond individual matches at the World Cup, which are often only confirmed once the tournament itself is finished. For example, you can wager on which country will win the World Cup or which player will score the most goals to win the Golden Boot winner.

World Cup futures can apply to both teams and players and are often available to bet on both before and during the World Cup itself. As a result, the odds for World Cup futures can change massively over the course of the tournament. There are several things that can affect futures odds, including a team or player’s form, injuries, suspensions, and even who other bettors are wagering on.

When betting on World Cup futures, it’s particularly important to consider which teams and bets will provide you with the best value. For example, a strongly favored team pre-tournament may not offer great value to back before the competition gets underway, but if that team gets off to a sluggish start in the group stage, their futures odds may drift to a longer price. If you still think that team has a strong chance of progressing from their group and then going all the way in the tournament, that may be an opportune time to back them in the World Cup winner futures market.

The World Cup is the ultimate prize in soccer, and all sportsbooks offering soccer betting will provide a futures market on the eventual winner of the World Cup. The market will offer odds on all 32 teams that have qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with the favorites normally including established powerhouses in international soccer, such as Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, England, and Spain.

The 2022 World Cup will see the number of teams cut from 32 to 16 following the group stage, so if you’re planning on backing one of the favored nations, you may get better value by betting on them either pre-tournament or early in the group stages. This could lock in longer odds for your wager, considering the favorites often see their odds shorten as the tournament progresses.

This is also the case if you have identified an underdog that you fancy to progress deep into the tournament. Pre-tournament futures feature a full list of teams, and are often when the odds are at their most favorable for bettors. If you like the team and their odds, betting pre-tournament is often the smartest move.

Another option is to hold off on any pre-tournament action and make your assessment after the first round or two of group games to get a better idea of how your chosen team(s) are performing. Sometimes favored teams fail to produce in tournaments, while others cause an early shock to kick-start a strong performance.

Some sportsbooks offer additional futures markets that allow you to bet on a team to reach a specific stage of the tournament. Markets offering odds on teams to reach the World Cup final are commonplace, but sportsbooks now also offer odds on a team to reach the semi-finals or quarter-finals of the tournament.

These markets are perfect for bettors who fancy an outsider to do well in the tournament, but perhaps not quite go all the way and win the World Cup overall. For example, if you fancy Canada’s chances of upsetting the odds and qualifying from the group stages, but you feel they will not win the tournament outright, you could back them to reach the quarter-finals while enjoying the value of solid pre-tournament odds.

The winning group futures market offers you the chance to bet on which of the eight World Cup groups will produce the eventual winner of the tournament. This means that rather than backing a single team, you have the option of backing all four teams from one group as a collective. If a nation from your chosen group goes on to win the World Cup, then your bet wins.

Different sportsbooks may offer additional World Cup futures markets, including betting on a team to qualify (or not qualify) from their group, betting on the specific stage of elimination for a given team, and betting on the winner of the Golden Ball, the award given to the best player of the tournament.